The Truth about Africa

The truth is that I need to update this thing more frequently! This once each week thing has to end. I’ll try to be more diligent.

Anyway, Will and I have taken up walking as of late. The house we currently live in is at the bottom of a valley. Either way we want to go on our road to get out of our valley, we have to go up some pretty intense and steep hills. I have decided that running is out of the question for me because I will be undoubtedly be exhausted 1/3 of the way up the hill and then want to go home. It doesn’t make for much of a workout. So, walking it is. We have gone on two so far, each being over an hour long. It’s good for us. And, since it isn’t too warm yet, we are not getting overheated yet.

And now for the part of my blog entry entitled, “things I have learned about Africa”.

1) One thing I didn’t expect about Africa is how short the days are here. We have just reached the equinox and the sun rises at around 5:40am and sets around 6:30pm. Apparently, even in the height of summer the sun only sets at 8:30ish. I’m used to the sun setting late when it’s summer. It will be interesting.

2) It gets cold here. But you already know that.

3) The colors of the plants here are way more vibrant than they are in America. There are purple trees and fuschia trees and yellow bushes. And it’s not the muted versions of these colors that we have in our gardens. These plants are BRIGHT! And there are also birds of paradise EVERYWHERE! and this includes my backyard. They are lovely. I really should take pictures and post them. Add it to the to-do list.

4) There are no chocolate chips…seriously. There are fake ones, but they don’t bake well. It’s my number one disappointment so far 🙂

5) Durban has the highest population of Indian people (ie from India) of any place outside of India itself which means lots of curry for Katie. Hooray!

6) Sometimes you have lizards in your house. Sometimes you have birds in your house. But both of these animals eat all the bugs that would have taken up residence in your house, so it all works out in the end.

7) The internet is sketchy…sorry friends. I don’t avoid you intentionally. Although, it does make for a good excuse…
Just kidding, the internet really is sketchy. We’re hoping to fix this.

8) Contrary to popular belief, giraffes do not run around the neighborhoods at random. They only live in game reserves. (I didn’t really think they actually ran around wild everywhere, promise). Monkeys are hilarious and there are a lot of them. Like they are just as funny as they are in the zoo, but here, there are no bars between you and them. They are just there, swinging in your hammock in your backyard while another one pushes it….crazy right?! (point of clarification: I have not actually seen this happen in real life, but I have heard tell that it does)

9) Onions are in everything. It’s a thing and my tummy is sad.

10) I have been told that I have an accent. I don’t believe it.

And this completes today’s installation of “things I have learned about Africa”. Tune in next week, this may become a segment.